Photo by Bernt Rostad

For many SAIC students (myself included), this summer will be the first one spent in Chicago. There’s a recurring theme that runs through most discussions of weather in Chicago: the winters may be brutal, but the summers make the braving the cold worth it.

While lots of the city’s student will be operating under some severe budgetary constraints over the next few months (this is an art school, after all), there are still lots of great events available for free in our school’s backyard. Millennium Park will host a variety of concerts and other outdoor activities throughout the summer, and there will be plenty of things to do for art lovers, concert-goers, fitness enthusiasts, and more.

I’m personally excited to see some of the free outdoor concerts (including separate dates for Oneohtrix Point Never and Maps and Atlases) as well as some of the movies (Rushmore, Spinal Tap, and Ghostbusters, to name a few).

2014 also marks the tenth anniversary of the park, and the city will be celebrating with two art exhibitions: new sculptural work by Jaume Plensa (the artist behind the colossal Crown Fountain) as well as a photo exhibition documenting the park’s development.

For more information on Millennium Park’s summer events, you can visit the Millennium Park website.